Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roger Humphries was born January 30, 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began playing drums at age four, and went professional at age 14. He led an ensemble at Carnegie Hall at age 16. Early in the 1960s, he began touring with jazz musicians; one of his more prominent gigs was in a trio with Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott in 1962.
In 1964, he played with Horace Silver on Song For My Father, following this Humphries drummed for Ray Charles. He led his own band “R. H. Factor” in the 1970s, and led ensembles under other names into the Nineties, recording under his own name in 1993, 2003 and 2011. He held teaching positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Humphries’s list of credits in jazz, R&B, and pop is extensive playing with Lee Morgan, Grant Green, Billy Taylor, Benny Green, Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack McDuff, Jon Faddis, Joe Williams, Herbie Mann, Gene Harris, Milt Jackson, Slide Hampton and the list goes on. Drummer and big band leader Roger Humphries continues to perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Walbridge Shirley was born January 29, 1927 in Kingston, Jamaica and under the tutelage of his mother began playing piano at 2½ and made his first public performance at the age of 3. By nine he was invited to study theory with Mittolovski at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music, later studying with organist Conrad Bernier, followed by study of advanced composition with both Bernier and Dr. Thaddeus Jones at Catholic University in Washington D. C.
Don’s music is hard to categorize treating every arrangement as a new composition, playing standards in a non-standard way, and playing everything from show tunes, to ballads, to his personal arrangements of Negro spirituals, to jazz, and always with the overtone of a classically-trained musician who has utmost respect for the music.
He has performed at the Exposition International du Bi-Centenaire De Port-au-Prince, with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, with the Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and National Symphony Orchestras, in concert with his own trio for about 95 dates annually. During the 1950s and 60s he cut some 16 albums for Cadence Records, played around New York City, performed at Basin Street East, appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Show and his career was launch nationwide.
As an educator, Don holds a Doctorate of Music, Doctorate of Psychology (and Doctorate in Liturgical Arts, speaks eight languages fluently, and is considered an expert painter as well. The jazz pianist and composer continued to perform and record until his death of heart disease on April 6, 2013 in Manhattan, New York at the age of 86.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Henry Johnson was born January 28, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois and began playing at age twelve. While spending some formative time in Memphis, he started playing gospel music at age thirteen. By fourteen, Johnson was playing in R&B groups and although Johnson’s parents brought him up hearing the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Williams, and other artists of that era, it was not until 1967 that Johnson was formally introduced to jazz by hearing Wes Montgomery.
In 1969, his family moved back to Chicago where Henry’s reputation on the south side as a good local jazz guitarist flourished. In 1976, he went on the road with jazz organist Jack McDuff, and then he got the call to work with Donny Hathaway in 1977.
In 1979, Johnson began playing with Ramsey Lewis and some six years later Joe Williams added Johnson to his regular group. Henry’s musical roots run deep into gospel, blues, and jazz with his strongest and earliest influences were along with Wes Montgomery, guitarists Kenny Burrell and George Benson but also the music of Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, big bands, and jazz orchestras were integral forces to shape his sound and style.
His debut album “You’re The One” went #1 for two months on two charts, received a five star rating from Downbeat magazine, and was nominated for a Grammy. His follow-up albums also received wide recognition and in addition to his other projects, Henry has recorded and/or performed with Vanessa Ruben, Richie Cole, Nancy Wilson, Marlena Shaw, Angela Bofill, Dizzy Gillespie, the Boston Pops, Sonny Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Dr. Billy Taylor, Jimmy Smith, James Moody, David “Fathead” Newman, Terry Gibbs, Bobby Watson, Nicholas Payton, Javon Jackson, Donald Harrison, and many other great jazz artists.
Guitarist Henry Johnson continues to re-invent himself as he records performs and tours worldwide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Mintzer was born January 27, 1953 in New Rochelle, New York. After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1970, he made his mark as a soloist, mainly on the tenor saxophone and bass clarinet but is also proficient on flute and the EWI (electronic wind instrument).
He is a member of the jazz-rock band the Yellowjackets but among jazz fans is even better known for his inspiring big band work since the early 1980s in the Word of Mouth Big Band and then as the leader of the Bob Mintzer Big Band. Before starting his own big band, Bob was a featured soloist and arranger with the Buddy Rich big band.
In 2008, Bob succeeded pianist Shelly Berg to hold the Bowen H. “Buzz” McCoy and Barbara M. McCoy Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
Mintzer has been nominated for thirteen Grammy Awards both for his solo work and big band recordings an his Homage to Count Basie won him a Grammy for the Best Large Ensemble in 2001. He has performed and/or recorded with a wide variety of artists ranging from Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, James Taylor, The New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, American Saxophone Quartet, Art Blakey, Donald Fagan, Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Kurt Elling, to Jaco Pastorius, Mike Manieri, and Randy Brecker.
Saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, arranger and bandleader Bob Mintzer continues to perform, tour and record as he explores funk and Latin domains with his big band.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Stéphane Grappelli was born on January 26, 1908 in Paris, France. Losing both his parents he was accepted into Isadora Duncan’s dance school where he discovered his love for French impressionist music. His musical career began playing violin at age 12, attended the Conservatoire de Paris studying music theory and made his living busking on the streets of Paris and Montmartre.
While at the conservatory he worked as a silent film pianist and also playing the saxophone and accordion. Grappelli eventually gained fame in Paris as a violin virtuoso but piano was his other love. His early fame came playing with the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt though the band disbanded in 1939 due to World War II. In 1940, a little known jazz pianist by the name of George Shearing made his debut as a sideman in Grappelli’s band.
After the war Stephane appeared on hundreds of recordings including sessions with Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Michel Petrucciani, Claude Bolling, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stuff Smith, Toots Thielemans, Gary Burton, Joe Pass, Andre Previn and many, many others.
During the 1960s he played for cocktail hour at the Paris Hilton, recorded the title track of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, made a cameo appearance in “King of the Gypsies”, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 and was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Violinist Stephane Grappelli died in Paris after undergoing a hernia operation on December 1, 1997.
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